The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-14
ATRAGEDY ON THE BEACH
THE BODY OF A MURDERED MAN
FOUND AT TYBEE.

quest Begun-Some of the Facts
ELECTED by the COroner-Strong Cir
cumstantial Evidence -- When the
Dead Man Was Last Seen Alive
Points in His Career-His Body
Brought to the City
Tybee Island beach was the scene Of a
bloody murder yesterday morning. muir
der that was cruel and brutal-and the evil
dences of the crime betray the mark of a
cowardly assassin's hand. Not content with
taking the life of his victim, the murderer
defaced the body, and with cunning craft
and cool deliberation sought to hide the
traces of his guilt. But nature, to whom he
looked for protection, revolted against
sheltering the bloody secret and left it bare
to the eyes of man that the ruthless
taker of human life might be brought
to meet deserved fate Two theories
why the crime was committed have been
advanced but whichever may be the true
one the man who was guilty of the deed was
a cCnscienceless and depraved wretch, whose
proper place is nowhere but on the gibbet.
There is not in the whole affair single
thing that speaks in favor of the murderer,
but nmberleSS facts that brand him as a
creature without even the instincts OF a
man.
FINDING THE BODY.
Early Yesterday morning Abram Minis,
ESQ. and Mr. J. n. johnson, both of this
city, who had been spending the night at
Tybee, arose and started for walk on the
beach before taking the boat for the city.
They intended to walk to the wreck of
bark which lies upon the sand
Walking leisurely along they passed Capt.
Henry Blun's cottage, and over greater
part of the distance they had laid out for
their walk, when they saw a dark object
living a few hundred yards ahead of them.
They turned their steps toward it and as
they neared it recognized it as the body of
o man. They went to it, not thinking at the
time that they were to stumble upon the
evidence of a foul crime, but that
some poor fisherman had been lost at sea
and the deep had cast up its dead. When
they rachel the body, however, they
learned OF their mistake, for they saw that
the head Was bloody end living upon the
sand that was stained with blood. They
stopped down and examined the corpse and
found that the skull had been beaten in, that
the throat had been cut and the marks upon
the body proved that the unfortunate, who
ever he might be, had been the victim of
foul deed
IDENTIFYING THE BODY.
They returned to the hotel and there made
Known the fact that the body had been
found and tried to learn if anyone was miss
ing. No evidence Of who the dead man was
could be learned in that way, for at that
early hour many of those who were in the
hotel were still asleep, so a number of gen
flelnen started out with the
finders of the body as their
guides to try and identify the dead man and
gain what information could be picked up
there When they reached the scene they
CHI oil Nv crbo ioof hot
their view. There lay the body clad only in
trousers, socks and coarse shirt, the clothes
bloody and soiled, the head crushed in, the
hair matted with blood and
red cash in the throat The first
shock over, they began to examine the
corpse, and after several minutes Mr. John
Wright, of the Seaside Pavilion, recognized
it as that of George Smith, saloonkeeper
of Savannah, young man who had gone to
the island only the night before to spend a
week.
A BLOODY CIRCLE
Recognizing that murder had been COM
mitted, the party began to search for such
evidence of who the murderer was as might
have been left ON the spot Footprints
were seen leading to where the dead body
lay. In the soft sand they could be easily
traced, and it was noticed that there were
the footprints of but one man, but they were
deep and well defined. Following them back
the searchers found spot where the strug-
gle for life had taken place A circle, about
20 feet in diameter, marked the scene of the
conflict, and within its periphery the sand
bore countless marks of feet and was
witness that fierce and desperate fight
had occurred there. Over the entire sur
face of the circle there was blood stains as
If the dead man had prolonged the fight
after his asSailant had inflicted one at least
of the terrible wounds that the body bears.
Noticing this they followed the tracks from
the bloody arena to the body. They
were irregular and it was evident
that the murderer had coolly calculated
plan for washing away the traces of his
guilt, for he had taken the body in his arms
and carried it down to the sea to a spot
where he thought the waves would catch it
and the tide would bear it away but the
tide was on the ebb and it receded further,
leaving the body more exposed and thus
refusing to be party to the revolving deed.
THE FINGER OF SUSPICION.
The news spread quickly over the island,
and everyone began guessing who the muir
derer was Two men had been seen with
Smith on the evening before. They We're
Barney White, alias Barney Reyes, and
Thomas Cassidy. Maggie Terrell,
was also there They had called
at the Ocean House on the previous evening,
but were refused accommodations. They
CulN6u lIlc GltTk anu DttNIile DOlSleTOuS ana
disorderly, but they left the Ocean House and
found rooms in one of the other houses
there
They went to the Seaside Pavilion and there
Smith was last seen alive Mr.. Wright
said that Smith and Cassidy were sitting on
the piazza at midnight and he told them
that they must come in, as he wished to
close the house. They arose and walked TO
the bar. Smith invited Cassidy to drink,
and beer was served to them.
Smith purchased pint flask
of whisky and started out of the
door, Cassidy following him. They stood
on the piazza for a moment, and then said
that they were going to the beach to hunt
for turtles eggs, and they started off in the
direction of the beach together, and Smith
was never seen again. Only his mangled
body was found to tell the tale of how his
life went out.
DETECTING THE ARREST.
The people of Tybee We're confident by
this time that Cassidy was responsible for
the death, and having seen Reyes, as White
was known, with them, ne was suspected of
being party to it, But the boat had left
for Savannah, and Cassidy, Keyes, and the
Terrell woman were all aboard of her
The only thing TO be done was
to inform the Savannah authorities
and capture them as soon as the tug landed:
so a telephone message, which simply said
that Smith had been murdered and Cas-
sidy and Keyes were suspected was sent 10